Recent Articlesfrom the Blog

Whether you're just starting out or a seasoned pro,
check out the articles on our blog.

Have you decided you want to learn how to play the piano? Mastering a new skill can be challenging at first, so your enthusiasm to get started is a great first step! Use this guide to help you conquer the learning curve that everyone wanting to know how to learn piano must overcome.
Setting the Right Goals
No one expects you to become a concert pianist overnight. Set reasonable goals to help you feel accomplished and prevent discouragement.
Set practice goals: Strive to practice, say …
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How to Learn Piano - Setting Goals, Staying Motivated, and More

Have you decided you want to learn how to play the piano? Mastering a new skill can be challenging at first, so your enthusiasm to get started is a great first step! Use this guide to help you conquer the learning curve that everyone wanting to know how to learn piano must overcome.
Setting the Right Goals
No one expects you to become a concert pianist overnight. Set reasonable goals to help you feel accomplished and prevent discouragement.
Set practice goals: Strive to practice, say

David Bowie Tribute: "Space Oddity" Guitar Tutorial [Video]

The music world lost one of its brightest stars this week, as legendary musician David Bowie passed away Monday at the age of 69. To celebrate Bowie's life and tremendous talent, TakeLessons guitar instructor Jonathan B. put together this special guitar tutorial to help you learn to play one of Bowies classic songs.
In this step-by-step tutorial, learn the Space Oddity chords and the special techniques Bowie used to play his acoustic hits. Pay special attention to the left-hand chord voi

7 Ways to Use Movable Guitar Scales to Write Solos and Riffs

Learning guitar scales prepares you for the fun of playing riffs and solos. If you know your scales but you don't know how to take the next step, try one of these tips from guitar teacher James W...
You have 7 notes to choose from and the following 7 steps will help you in ways you cannot even predict. Most guitar players learn the basics such as the 5 basic major scale patterns in G major and go on to learn them in the other major keys as well. Perhaps you know what a pentatonic scale is in

Teacher Tips Round-Up: April 2014

Here at TakeLessons, we're proud to work with some of the best teachers in the country! We love hearing your tips and advice, and we're always excited to share your knowledge with our blog readers. And now that we've expanded into so many new lesson subjects, we're learning about everything from music to dance to health &amp; wellness and more!
Below, take a look at some of the awesome articles our teachers wrote in April:
MUSIC ARTICLES
- How to Select the Best Song for a Musical Theater

13 Relatable Theories About Where Guitar Picks Really Go When You Lose Them

The life of a guitarist is not all glamour and glory. Mostly, you spend your time looking for a guitar pick, you know, the one you just put down a second ago. Over the years, many explanations have arisen to explain the phenomenon of the disappearing pick, but unfortunately science has yet to give us a definitive answer.
So, in the spirit of investigation and with hopes of someday exposing the truth, here are 13 of the leading theories on what happened to your lost guitar pick.
1. It fell